Written and edited by Norm Scott:
EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!! MOBILIZE!!!
Three pillars of The Resistance – providing information on current ed issues, organizing activities around fighting for public education in NYC and beyond and exposing the motives behind the education deformers. We link up with bands of resisters. Nothing will change unless WE ALL GET INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE!

Thursday, January 28, 2016

There has been a lot of discussion over the Unity Caucus
"loyalty oath" or a version of democratic centralism used by most
socialist parties even today. I have come to see that if an organization
engages in spirited democratic debate and then comes to a decision on
an issue I can see the case for the entire org adhering to the decision.
"Democratically" is the key word. Unity is not a democratic
organization in practice so as someone pointed out it engages in
undemocratic centralism. The big problem is that Unity has basically
turned the UFT into a branch of Unity Caucus and whatever Unity decides
becomes city, state and national policy due to rigid, controlled
election process.

A prime example is the 750 AFT/NYSUT winner take all delegates who will be elected in May to represent the entire UFT membership at the AFT2016 convention this summer. Even if MORE/New Action got 49% of the vote the people who voted for them would get no representation - disenfranchising them and taxing them with union dues without representation. Can anyone spell Friedrichs? [MORE will debate Friedrichs at its Feb 6 meeting - all are welcome - and I will be raising this as a call for the UFT to change its constitution.] Another example is that in the retiree chapter election, Retiree Advocate got 22% of the vote but Unity gets all 300 delegates to our delegate assembly.

The roots of this system comes from Al Shanker and his cohorts. You can't really understand what is behind the system without studying its roots. Lois Weiner in a 1997 article upon the death of Al Shanker:

Borrowing a strategy more commonly used by political activists than union leaders, Shanker exercised authority through the mechanism of political caucuses, the "Unity Caucus" in the UFT, and the "Progressive Caucus" in the AFT. As is still true, these were "disciplined" caucuses, meaning that if members disagree with a position taken by the group, they may not express their opposition outside of the caucus in a public forum (Lieberman, 1997.) In the Unity Caucus, discipline extends to votes as well; to vote or speak against a caucus position carries the risk of exclusion from the caucus and the many jobs the union leadership controls (Weiner, 1976). Analyzing Shanker's mechanisms for controlling debate and decision making in the AFT, one critic compared Shanker's exercise of authority to the Leninist concept of "democratic centralism" (Lieberman, 1997). However, comparison of accounts of organizational life in both the UFT and AFT suggests that Lenin's Bolshevik party, at least until the Russian revolution, was less tightly-controlled than was the Unity Caucus under Shanker (Deutscher, 1954; Weiner & Markens, 1990).... Lois Weiner

I was emailed a link to Lois' 1997 piece elucidating some of the roots of the undemocratic legacy in the UFT going back to the early 60s. There have been some recent articles floating around delving into the roots of UFT history of lack of democracy and there has been some push back on aspects of one particular analysis coming from the International Socialists. Some people from MORE and ICE will be getting together during the mid-winter break to drill down deeper on this issue, focusing on the ideology and right wing social democracy behind Shankerism and his connections to his mentor Max Shachtman, which I delved into on ednotes.

Lois delves into this point:

As the nation's political
climate became more conservative in the 1980s and '90s, Shanker's
opposition to progressive political causes and his public rejection of
the militant unionism that had earned him his early prominence enabled
him to win the support of conservative authors and politicians with
whom he had previously locked horns (Lieberman, 1995). Like Reagan and
his appointees, Shanker opposed bilingual education, mainstreaming of
handicapped students, and efforts to make the curriculum more
multicultural. However, it is essential to note that what changed was
the political temper of the period, not Shanker's ideology, which
remained essentially the same as it had been since he became UFT
President. Herein lies the element that connects all of the seemingly
diverse aspects of Shanker's legacy, his political ideology, which
requires explanation of events that one author has described as
"Byzantine" (Mahler, 1997). Shanker
was a political co-thinker of a small group of former socialists,
organized into Social Democrats-USA, commonly known by the acronym
SD-USA. The intellectual mentor of this group, Max Shachtman, was well
known in left-wing circles up until the mid-1950s as a socialist, a
left-wing opponent of communism.

However, as the cold war
intensified, Shachtman viewed American capitalism in an increasingly
favorable light that called for forgiving many of the practices that he
had previously contested. In an obituary, the theme of which was
Shachtman's two deaths, one moral, the other corporeal, a critic of
Shachtman' s "turn to the right" noted, "Shachtman had become an
apologist for American imperialism's filthy war in Vietnam, aligned
himself with the ugliest elements in the unions, rationalized the
racist practices of the construction unions" (Jacobson, 1973, p. 99).

This is an old but very valuable piece by Lois Weiner, a former NYC teacher and UFT delegate. Lois recruited us to review the Kahlenberg book for New Politics. (Bold was added by me in some places to highlight points we are looking at.) Lois wrote a wonderful piece on neoliberalism and education which illuminates many connections between the actions of the Democrats, BloomKlein, Gates, Broad, Weingarten (posted here on this blog recently.)

ALBERT SHANKER'S LEGACY

by Lois Weiner

After Albert Shanker's death in February 1997, the numerous obituaries in newspapers throughout the United States testified to his notable presence in American political life. Shanker headed the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) for 22 years, his responsibility for the national union overlapping his equally long career as president of the New York City teachers union the United Federation of Teachers (UFT). In both cases, the organizations he left were transformed by his presence. Early in his tenure as president, the UFT grew from 2,500 to 110,000, becoming collective bargaining agent for New York's teachers and paraprofessionals (Goldberg, 1993); during his presidency of the AFT, it grew from about 400,000 members (AFT, 1976a) to over 900,000 (Weil, 1997).

As the obituaries make clear, Shanker made a significant mark on American political life and altered the politics of education and teacher unionism. According to the Washington Post, he helped "revolutionize both the nation's labor movement and its educational system in the years after World War II" through his work in bringing New York's school teachers under the union umbrella (Weil, 1997, p. B:5). Newspaper headlines eulogized him as a "visionary" (Dine, 1997)" and "crusader for education reform" (Woo, 1997) who was "stronger than an atom bomb" (Warsh, 1997).

Curiously though, each obituary identified a salient but different aspect of his long career as a teacher union leader to commemorate. For Philip Dine of the Wall Street Journal, Shanker was best remembered as a legendary labor leader whose major contribution was prescient support of "workers' struggles in communist countries" (p. 14). The author of Shanker's obituary in the Los Angeles Times identified him as the country' s leading spokesman for teachers, with "trailblazing ideas about teachers' rights and educational reform" (Woo, 1997, p. 1). The Boston Globe columnist argued that Albert Shanker was best known for leading the UFT's 55-day strike to halt a plan to allow local community boards to control educational policy, as well as for being mentioned by Woody Allen in his movie Sleeper for destroying civilization when he obtained a nuclear warhead (Warsh, 1997). Writing in the Chicago Tribune, Linda Chavez, former editor of the AFT's magazine and a self-confessed protege of the union head, saluted him for his political ideas: outspoken criticism of racial quotas and preferences, opposition to bilingual education, and lifelong anti-communism (Chavez, 1997). Writing in the Christian Science Monitor, three educational researchers remembered his transition from labor militant, "spreading fear and in some cases loathing throughout the land" to educational reformer and statesman who saved New York City from bankruptcy by lending the government $150 million dollars from the teachers' pension fund (Weeres, Koppich & Kerchner, 1997, p. 1).

A partial explanation for the divergence of views about Shanker's most memorable accomplishments is his longevity on the political scene. Unlike the presidents of the United States who cannot serve for more than two terms, Albert Shanker was not limited in the amount of time he could remain in office. Although the union membership could, technically, have unseated him, the possibility was unlikely without a sustained, well-organized opposition that had links to reform movements in other unions, an occurrence which has been quite rare in American unions in the past three decades.

Within a few years of becoming AFT president, Shanker instituted several organizational changes that served to insulate his authority, duplicating the method of consolidating control that he had used successfully in the UFT (Lieberman, 1997). A full discussion of the alterations in the union's structure would go beyond the focus of this article, but two key changes should be noted: making the heretofore annual membership conventions biennial and broadening the union's membership to include nurses and health care workers, who now compose a considerable portion of the union's membership. Another modification, probably more notable for its symbolic importance than its impact on the union's functioning, was elimination of the verbatim transcripts of convention proceedings distributed during conventions and mailed to each local. The transcripts were replaced by summaries of the convention proceedings highlighting speeches given by union officers and invited guests, edited by union staff headed by Linda Chavez, whose remembrance of Shanker (1997) called attention to his powerful influence on her political thinking.

Borrowing a strategy more commonly used by political activists than union leaders, Shanker exercised authority through the mechanism of political caucuses, the "Unity Caucus" in the UFT, and the "Progressive Caucus" in the AFT. As is still true, these were "disciplined" caucuses, meaning that if members disagree with a position taken by the group, they may not express their opposition outside of the caucus in a public forum (Lieberman, 1997.) In the Unity Caucus, discipline extends to votes as well; to vote or speak against a caucus position carries the risk of exclusion from the caucus and the many jobs the union leadership controls (Weiner, 1976). Analyzing Shanker's mechanisms for controlling debate and decision making in the AFT, one critic compared Shanker's exercise of authority to the Leninist concept of "democratic centralism" (Lieberman, 1997). However, comparison of accounts of organizational life in both the UFT and AFT suggests that Lenin's Bolshevik party, at least until the Russian revolution, was less tightly-controlled than was the Unity Caucus under Shanker (Deutscher, 1954; Weiner & Markens, 1990).

Examination of the last verbatim transcripts of proceedings at AFT conventions sent to delegates (AFT, 1976a) reveals an illuminating pattern in Shanker's method of dealing with dissension from the floor. While the norms of democratic debate in the form of adherence to Roberts Rules of Order were generally upheld, no vote occurred that might have undermined the public unanimity expected of caucus members. When the prospect of such a vote occurred, a delegate who was closely identified with Shanker, often a UFT officer, moved to refer the measure to the AFT Executive Council. Shanker himself rarely entered into debates on issues before conventions except when important votes seemed in jeopardy. The intervention of a trusted lieutenant was sufficient signal to UFT delegates and Shanker's supporters from other locals about how they were expected to vote. In one instance, the president of a large local and member of Shanker's caucus introduced a special order of business that called on the AFT to defend a teacher's right to maintain discipline, opposing any diminution of laws that supported corporal punishment. The resolution noted that the NEA had filed a suit on behalf of a student challenging Florida's corporal punishment statute before the Supreme Court and demanded that the AFT counter the NEA's stance by filing a brief in support of the principal, who had exercised his right to paddle the student.

The verbatim transcript shows intense reaction to the resolution. One delegate argued "I do believe that teachers have the right to maintain discipline. ... That does not mean that they have a right to beat people who are smaller than they are." The transcript shows his marks interrupted by "[Boos and catcalls]" (AFT, 1976a, p. 26). Shortly thereafter, an officer of the UFT moved to refer the issue to the AFT Executive Council. A delegate from a small California local in California spoke against allowing the Executive Council to decide the matter, as did a teacher from a local in New York state. He acknowledged that the issue was divisive, but he argued that it merited debate because it was significant, as were the differences of opinion that had come to light. His remarks bespoke a frustration that the convention had taken up so many resolutions about social and political issues, and so few that addressed teaching and learning: "I am depressed, frankly, when I look at the number of the resolutions that have come before the body and that we have considered, whatever our viewpoint on them, that have to do with our relationship with our students" (AFT, 1976a, p. 28). The booklet containing resolutions submitted by locals and by the union leadership shows that his perception was accurate. Out of 62 resolutions, only nine focused on instructional concerns (AFT, 1976b).

Shanker's longevity in office cannot fully explain his prominence because presidents of larger unions who have also served life-long terms in office, have not made a noticeable mark on American political life, either through their unions or their direct involvement in politics. The other key to explaining Shanker's renown is understanding the period of time in which he exercised control of the AFT and UFT. During his tenure in office, American political life was shaken by the birth of social movements that challenged the nation's political underpinnings. First, the civil rights movement, then the women's movement drew attention to social inequality and demanded an end to legally-sanctioned discrimination. American schools and universities were shaken by student protests of the war in Vietnam. The teacher union movement was reborn in the 20th century amid intense political ferment that influenced the political culture of schools and teachers' self-conceptions (Murphy, 1990). The dramatic effect of the UFT's early strikes and its militance was captured by one mourner at the memorial service for Shanker when she recalled that "he made teachers go from being people who took orders" to being people who gained self-respect (Steinberg, 1997, p. 7). Although sizable teacher strikes had occurred earlier in other American cities, the UFT became the model for teacher unionists throughout the country struggling to establish collective bargaining agreements with their school boards. Thus, Shanker's reputation as a militant, combative unionist was earned in the days when teacher unionism was a dynamic social movement, with many of its members active in anti-war and civil rights protests.

Shortly after Shanker and the UFT established themselves as significant political players, changes in the nation's political climate configured what many commentators have identified as a turning point in racial relations in American cities. Shanker led the UFT in dogged opposition to decentralization of the New York City Board of Education, a position upheld by a series of strikes in the 1968-69 school year that polarized racial relations in the city. Civil rights groups, unable to integrate the New York City schools, decided instead to agitate for more control of the schools serving poor, black students. The confrontation between the largely Jewish membership of the UFT and the black proponents of decentralization and community control became symbolic of the unravelled liberal alliance (Berube, 1988).

Shanker's reputation as an aggressive opponent of progressive social change was buttressed by his uncompromising support of the war in Vietnam. As political opposition to the war mounted among liberals and labor's allies in the Democratic party, agreement on foreign policy became increasingly important to the AFL-CIO leadership, which fervidly supported U.S. military intervention in the war (Schmidt, 1978; Buhle, 1997). Meany appointed Shanker, only a vice-president of the AFT at the time, to the AFL-CIO Executive Board, rather than the AFT President, David Selden. Curiously, the author of the highly sympathetic biography of Shanker, Where He Stands, states that Shanker explained that both he and Selden "opposed the war in Vietnam and Meany supported it" (Mungazi, 1995, p. 94). Berube's description of the circumstances is more accurate: At a time when public employee unions were a weak force in the labor federation, George Meany, president of the AFL-CIO "was dubious about teacher or whitecollar organization" (Berube, 1988, p. 65) but elevated Shanker to the executive board because Shanker, unlike Selden, was in political agreement with Meany about how U.S. and labor's interests should be defined. As the nation's political climate became more conservative in the 1980s and '90s, Shanker's opposition to progressive political causes and his public rejection of the militant unionism that had earned him his early prominence enabled him to win the support of conservative authors and politicians with whom he had previously locked horns (Lieberman, 1995). Like Reagan and his appointees, Shanker opposed bilingual education, mainstreaming of handicapped students, and efforts to make the curriculum more multicultural. However, it is essential to note that what changed was the political temper of the period, not Shanker's ideology, which remained essentially the same as it had been since he became UFT President. Herein lies the element that connects all of the seemingly diverse aspects of Shanker's legacy, his political ideology, which requires explanation of events that one author has described as "Byzantine" (Mahler, 1997). Shanker was a political co-thinker of a small group of former socialists, organized into Social Democrats-USA, commonly known by the acronym SD-USA. The intellectual mentor of this group, Max Shachtman, was well known in left-wing circles up until the mid-1950s as a socialist, a left-wing opponent of communism.

However, as the cold war intensified, Shachtman viewed American capitalism in an increasingly favorable light that called for forgiving many of the practices that he had previously contested. In an obituary, the theme of which was Shachtman's two deaths, one moral, the other corporeal, a critic of Shachtman' s "turn to the right" noted, "Shachtman had become an apologist for American imperialism's filthy war in Vietnam, aligned himself with the ugliest elements in the unions, rationalized the racist practices of the construction unions" (Jacobson, 1973, p. 99).

Echoing SD-USA's cold war politics and its concern that labor not be too militant, lest it weaken communism's protagonist, liberal capitalism, the AFT under Shanker assumed a more aggressive stance on foreign policy and more attenuated support for social movements challenging the status quo. Examination of AFT convention transcripts supports contentions that Shanker's defense of human rights was politically lopsided, targeting violations and repression in communist countries but not those by U.S. allies, especially in Latin America (Berube, 1988; Schmidt, 1978).

In 1976, the union passed Resolution #21, submitted by the UFT, demanding freedom for Yakov Suslensky, a Soviet teacher who wanted to emigrate to Israel. However, when two resolutions came to the floor soon after, dealing with political repression in two countries within the U.S. sphere of influence, South Korea (#23) and in Chile (#24), the convention declined to identify wrongdoing in a specific locale, opting instead to condemn "all nations governed by Fascists and Communist dictatorships" (AFT, 1976a, p. 28). The same pattern exists in resolutions on foreign policy passed in 1978, 1979, 1980, and 1981.

Shanker's prominence as a teacher unionist and political figure rested in great measure upon his remarkable organizational skills and acumen, which both his sharpest critics and impassioned supporters noted. His considerable ability as an orator, coupled with the structural changes in the union that made opposition Herculean, go far in answering how he was able to retain control of the union.

Unlike most other American unions, the AFT does not allow for direct election of national officers; the convention, heavily weighted in favor of large locals, especially the UFT, elected Shanker first at its annual and then biennial meetings (Weiner, 1976). Whether, as one columnist noted, Shanker "was able to maintain the loyalty" of the UFT and AFT membership is therefore open to question. But his achievements and distinctions also relied on the political fit between his ideology and the nation's climate. As political debate became more sympathetic to corporate prerogatives, Shanker's ideological predilection to downplay conflicts between labor and management, teachers and school boards, was enhanced. In a nation more receptive to conservative ideas, Albert Shanker became a spokesperson for a unionism that rejected confrontation and articulated a vision of educational reform that was more similar to that of corporate leaders and school boards (Shanker, 1985, 1988 & 1989; Kerchner & Mitchell, 1988). However, in the last few years of his life, political events developed that have illuminated the underside of Shanker's achievements, events that have made his legacy far more problematic than the obituaries suggest. With the collapse of communism, the cold war dimension of Shanker's politics became meaningless (Mahler, 1997), reducing his political beliefs to a conservatism more similar than not to that of mainstream Republicans (Buhle, 1997). But conservatives are not often supporters of organized labor, especially not in an AFL-CIO that has resurrected at least the verbal banner of class struggle. John Sweeney, who defeated Lane Kirkland and his supporters, prominently among them, Albert Shanker (Manegold, 1995) "has set a whole new tone" for the labor movement (Cooper, 1997). Though the right-wing of the labor federation, which counts as a leader Sandra Feldman, Shanker's heir to the AFT and UFT presidencies, (who was a youthful protege of Shachtman), is poised to retake control if Sweeney's hold of the AFL-CIO apparatus is significantly weakened, SD-USA's ideological hegemony and organizational infuence have clearly been shattered.

Shanker's policy of quelling lively internal debate about educational issues and international politics for close to three decades in the UFT and two in the AFT, allowed him to present a picture of unified UFT/AFT opinion to politicians and the public. And the organizational changes that gave him enormous control over policy and personnel reinforced his image as a powerful leader, speaking forcefully for teachers. But the positions he took that made his reputation as a labor statesman are clearly not shared by classroom teachers today.

Reliable national polls show that teachers are skeptical about the usefulness of national standards in education (Ford Foundation, 1993). They believe that traditional teacher union issues are relevant and legitimate; they expect the union to intervene about workload, health and safety, theirs and that of their students, and resources (Bascia, 1994). Teachers are rarely permitted to vote on educational issues, because of the narrow scope of collective bargaining laws, but when they do, the results suggest that classroom teachers are, at best, sharply divided about many of the positions Shanker advocated.

For instance, in Rochester, members of the teachers union voted down a contract that contained financial incentives, a policy Shanker advocated; they approved the contract only after it had been altered to remove the provision (Blinder, 1992; Koppich, 1993). In 1995, New York City teachers voted down a contract for the first time in the UFT's history. The contract rejection occurred for many different reasons, but the vote revealed that the union leadership was unable to bargain effectively for teachers because it had misunderstood their desires.

President Clinton's decision to award Shanker the Medal of Freedom, commending him as "a staunch proponent of teacher certification and higher standards for students" (Lewis, 1998, p. 16), demonstrated that Albert Shanker had been accepted in the most powerful political circles. Yet, a good many of the 2,000 people attending his memorial service in New York City were retired rather than active members of the union who recalled his leadership in the battle to give teachers a voice in school policy. Shanker's heirs have inherited his power without his moral and political claims to leadership of teachers' battles. His legacy may prove to be that he gained personal prominence by creating a tight organizational apparatus in the UFT and AFT, making them susceptible to the same winds of change that swept John Sweeney' s supporters into the AFL-CIO and Albert Shanker's collaborators out.

Comments are welcome. Irrelevant and abusive comments will be deleted, as will all commercial links. Comment moderation is on, so if your comment does not appear it is because I have not been at my computer (I do not do cell phone moderating).

UFT Election Vote Comparison: 2004-10

A Personal Historical Perspective

Why Karen Lewis Reads Ed Notes

"A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

What media call "philanthropy" for the public schools are actually seed monies to establish a private "market" in publicly-financed education - an enterprise worth trillions if successfully penetrated by corporate America. Cory Booker, one of the "New Black Leaders" financed by the filthy rich, is key to creating a "nationwide corporate-managed schools network paid for by public funds but run by private managers.

"Ed Reformers" want to cash in on public education and to control its content and outcome, not improve it. Provide great education? Baby boomers had as close as this country has ever gotten to it when we were growing up. The Ed Reform Movement has no interest in seeing such a well-educated, democratically astute population ever again.

History of the UFT Pre-Weingarten Years

This award-winning series of articles by Jack Schierenbeck originally appeared in the New York Teacher in 1996 and 1997.

Naturally, from a certain point of view. But, despite certain biases, Schierenbeck, a great guy, was one of the best NY Teacher reporters so this is worth reading. Jack suffered a debilitating stroke many years ago (I used to get secret donations to ed notes from him through a 3rd source.)

“The schism in the union over radical politics [is] a major reason for stalling the growth of a teacher union for decades.” Revolutionary politics and ideology take center stage, as the original Teachers Union becomes a battlefield, pitting leftist against leftist and splitting the union.

Clarence Taylor's "Reds at the Blackboard" focused on the old Teachers Union which disbanded in 1964 after suffering from anti-left attacks.

Effective Union Organizing

A video series put together by Jason Mann from the British Columbia Federation of Teachers about social media and how to use it for effective union organizing.

The first series was called New Media For Union Activists Roadmap and it's still available on-line at:http://www.newmediabootcamp.ca/welcome/I watched some of them and need to rewatch as they are loaded with information.

The second series started last week and it's called "Online Campaigning for Union Activists"

You Don't Have A Choice - Join the Revolt

Hedges says, There are no excuses left. Either you join the revolt taking place on Wall Street and in the financial districts of other cities across the country or you stand on the wrong side of history.

Ex-Harlem Success Teacher Comments on Eva the Diva

I am a former Harlem Success teacher. Not many people who work/worked for her like her very much. I once made the comment that she is very nice when I first was hired. Two of her closest colleague responded immediately almost in unison, "Eve is not nice!" Over time I realized that there was a lot of political games going on. Another colleague once said to me that he was tired of "being part of a political campaign." Sending out 15,000 applications for only 400 seats in a school is reprehensible. The money that paid for those mass mailings could have paid the yearly salary of another teacher not to mention the heartache of all those parents who applied but did not get a spot. She does good work trying to give disadvantaged students a quality public school education but at a great cost to staff AND the school's educational budget! school budget.

GEM's Julie Cavanagh Debates E4E member on NY1 on LIFO and Seniority

Davis Guggenheim Compared to Riefenstahl

“Waiting for Superman" is the second most intellectually dishonest piece of documentary work I have seen. It is surpassed only by Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will," the pro-Hitler propaganda classic, in that regard. Uses personal narratives of adorable children to create narrative suspense that overrides public policy discussion with pure emotion in unscrupulous attack on teachers and their unions, among others

Timothy TysonProfessor of African American Studies and HistoryDuke University

A Familiar Voice on Unions

"We must close union offices, confiscate their money and put their leaders in prison. We must reduce workers salaries and take away their right to strike"- Adolf Hitler, May 2, 1933

How Teaching Experience Makes a Difference

Even as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Michelle Rhee and others around the nation are arguing for experienced teachers to be laid off regardless of seniority, every single study shows teaching experience matters. In fact, the only two observable factors that have been found consistently to lead to higher student achievement are class size and teacher experience, so that it’s ironic that these same individuals are trying to undermine both.- Leonie Haimson on Parents Across America web site

Outsource our children

Weingarten/Gates Foundation announce drone-driven teacher evaluation

According to a press release issued by the Gates Foundation, the AFT and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, these three have entered a ground-breaking partnership to evaluate teachers utilizing the drone technology that has revolutionized warfare in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. A bird-size device floats up to 400 feet above a classroom and instantly beams live video of teachers in action to agents at desks at Teacher Quality Inspection Stations established by the AFT and the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

When asked if the drones were authorized to drop bombs on teachers who exhibit inadequacy, Chester E. Finn, Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, replied, "Don't be ridiculous. Gates money puts other methods at our disposal."

Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.5-million-member American Federation of Teachers said the powerful union has signed on to the drone project...

Teacher Value-Added Data Dumping by Norm Scott

The Real Reason Behind Push for Standardized Tests: It's All About the Adults

On standardized testing in our schools

A must read article about the standardized test industry.Written by an insider who has worked as a test scorer, the article outlines a multinational industry based on an army of temporary workers paid by the piece at $0.30 to $0.70 per test, translated in the need to grade 40 tests per hour to make a $12 salary. The article goes on to show how the companies gauge the grading "results" based on the need to ensure new contracts to continue profiting off of our youth. The original article is from Monthly Review. Here it is on Schools Matter blog.

From Sharon Higgins

Parallels between America today and Germany in the 1920's and early 30's

"Resentment and obstruction are all the right wing in America have to peddle. Their policies are utterly discredited. Their ideology - even by its own standards - is a sham. They are so bereft of leaders, their de facto leader is a former drug addicted, thrice-divorced radio talk show host. That is literally the best they can muster. But they have built a national franchise inciting the downwardly mobile to blame the government, not the right, for their problems, exactly as Hitler did in the 1920s."

Chicago View of Unity/UFT on Charters

After many meetings and debates, the Chicago delegation succeeded in working with the New York United Federation of Teachers, Local 2 (UFT) to push the AFT to take stronger stands on charter school accountability and school closings — though many delegates from Chicago would have liked the language to have been even stronger.

Generally speaking, the New York delegation represented organizing charters as the best model for handling their role in reshaping unions, despite the fact that according to many reports few charter schools in New York have been organized as is the case in Chicago. This logic is the same touted by the Progressive Caucus of the AFT. The few that have been organized are a part of the UFT local though they have separate contracts negotiated with the help of UFT. The Chicago delegation reflection the mindset that allowing new charters to continue to proliferate while attempting to organize existing charters is an end game in which public schools and the union lose.

Ed Notes Greatest Hits: HSA Rally and Founding of GEM

Angel Gonzalez and I attended that rally and used the footage to promote our conference on Mar. 28, 2009, which is where the concept of a group like GEM emerged. Until then we had basically been a committee of ICE working with the NYCORE high stakes testing group. The actions of Eva and crew helped spawn GEM. Mommie Dearest!!

I have more video somewhere. I was hoping to get Leni Riefenstahl to edit it but she died. We would have called it "Triumph of the Hedge Fund Operators."

Video of Chicago's George Schmidt and CORE Shredding Arne Duncan and the Chicago Corporate Model

Great Post on Teacher Quality at the Morton School

I'm very tired of the myth that schools are bursting at the seams with apathetic, unskilled, surly, child-hating losers who can't get jobs doing anything else. I recently figured that, counting high school and college where one encounters many teachers in the course of a year, I had well over 100 teachers in my lifetime, and I can only say that one or two truly had no place being in a classroom.